Booked tickets, would love some itinerary advice please

[misstravelbug]

Hi

well, I booked the flights yesterday and we fly from Australia to Rome, arriving 29th April at 8am.

We are a family who loves to travel, slow travel especially (this trip will be quite a fast pace for us), we enjoy wandering, eating, absorbing new cultures and languages, experiencing a few well chosen museums and historic sights, but we are fairly casual travellers and have copious amounts of notes filled with places to visit but are happy to go off on a whim each day following whatever fascinates us.

What our rough (subject to change) itinerary looks like for the first 4 weeks...(Dh, myself, DD10 and DS7)

Rome; 7 nights. Not sure where to stay here yet, looking at apartments and hotels.
Can someone tell me if an apartment near Corso Vittorio and Largo Argentina is a good location please? I am waiting for some places to reply with rates as we will be there for the 1st May (with Liberation Day just before our arrival, so i would like to have somewhere booked fairly soon)

Assisi (or Spello); 7 nights. I have found an apartment in Assisi itself that I love, and also one in Spello. we will hire a car from here after catching a train from Rome.

Tuscany; La Foce. 7 nights. I have always wanted to stay here and we will be driving from Umbria with the hire car.

Then it get s a little blurry...

Maybe Florence for 3 nights??? (or outside Florence; love the look of the Valdirose bnb and also an apartment on the river in Florence) DH is coming for 30 nights, so if we add this we will shorten Umbria/Torino/Verona a little. I would love to return to Florence and visit so many little places I have bookmarked, like the Santa Maria Novella Farmacia...

Verona; 5 nights. We can shorten this, but looking forward to exploring this region and taking a day trip to the lakes. we will still have our hire car, or a new one. (looking at an airbnb on the Piazza delle Erbe. Is this a good location?)

Torino; 3 nights. I have always wanted to visit Torino. Eating chocolate, exploring, the Egyptian museum, DH wants to play golf nearby. (can shorten this to 2 nights if we need to) not sure where to stay here yet.

Milan; 1 night. Swap over. DH leaves for Australia at 1pm, hence the single night as we don't want to be travelling on his departure day, and we meet up with SIL or the children and I continue on our own.

Places on our list to visit over the next 4 weeks from early June will be: Venice (by train from Milan), Lucca, Santa Margherita Ligure and Rome. I do not want to hire a car during this time, without DH as my SIL is a shocking driver and navigator so I am not keen on the sole responsibility.
Any other suggestions would be great. We will end in Rome again most likely.

 

[Mom83]

Your trip sounds wonderful! We visited La Foce in October, 2011 when we spent a week in Monticchiello - we took the tour of the gardens and enjoyed it so much. I was thinking of actually staying at La Foce this Fall, but we decided we needed to be closer to Siena so that a day trip to Florence would be possible. So, now a stay at La Foce is on my bucket list! Have you read any of the books that Iris Origa wrote? I highly recommend them, especially War in Val d'Orcia.
We are also spending some time in Rome this Fall after our week near Siena. We are staying at the same apartment where we have stayed on previous trips. The location is excellent and the owner, Cristina, is so easy to work with. The apartment is very nice and we think the rate is very reasonable.
http://floraliahomes.com/
We always stay in the Blue apartment which has 2 bedrooms and 2 baths. The second bedroom has twin beds which might work for your children.
Good luck with your planning...I will be eager to see your plans as they firm up.

 

[Ian Sutton]

Hi MTB
For Milano, there are direct coaches from Torino to Milano Malpensa (worth checking this to confirm they still run), which could save you that awkward one-nighter. Alternatively the Freccia trains get to central Milano ridiculously quickly.

Logistically there is a bit of backtracking going on here, and Verona would ideally be swapped with Lucca or Santa ML.

For the Lake experience, would you consider Lake Maggiore or even Lake Como. These could be a natural move up from Tuscany, then drop the car off in Torino for the rest of the trip?

Staying outside of Florence makes a lot of sense with the car, so you can ideally take a bus into the city, or alternatively map a simple route to a car park.

Torino - what are you looking for? Townhouse 70 (#70 on via XX Settembre) has a great position, with rooms slightly more spacious than a normal hotel, but with less of the usual hotel support staff. If an apartment appeals, Loger confort at the Stazione Porta Nuova end of via XX Settembre was very good indeed and might be feasible for a family, as there were two sofa beds in the reasonably spacious lounge, as well as the bedroom with masses of storage space. It's the place we've enjoyed most in Torino. For spacious and well-fitted (but a little utilitarian) Residence du Parc is worth a look. The upside of this place is convenience for Parco Valentiono, but it is a decent walk from the centre, such that you'll find yourselves taking the trams.

Lucca without a car is cool (as of course is Venice!). For another place that rewards not having a car, worth a look at Ferrara. We've stayed at Borgonuovo twice and the larger apartments would be an ideal size for a family. Free bikes to borrow, to cycle round city walls or elsewhere (we did a lovely one off to Mulino Bianco, mostly along a road permanently requisitioned for cyclists). The city is great to walk or cycle around and car drivers are excluded from much of the centre and very cautious elsewhere. A large impressive castle with moat and a weekly market in the centre that's a joy. Food is very good locally It's an easy option coming from Venice on the train.

Lots of new ideas, thoughts. It sounds great, but I would recommend giving some thought to see if you can avoid some of the backtracking.

regards
Ian

 

[susan]

Hi misstravelbug,

Your trip sounds amazing! You might want to look at train travel times to make your decision on how to plan the second half of your trip. Travel from Milan to Venice is easy, but it will then be a 4-5 hour train trip from Venice to Lucca. Adding time in Verona with a day trip to Venice or adding time in Venice at this point would help eliminate the backtracking later on in your trip.

I would recommend at least 3 nights in Torino, adding a visit to the National Museum of Cinema, which is located inside the Mole Antonelliana while there. I loved it so much while I was there that I visited it twice! Torino really is a fun little city with so much to do! There is also a great little boat ride your kids might enjoy.

I am sure whatever you decide, you will love your time in Italy!

 

[misstravelbug]

Thankyouthankyouthankyou all!

You are all such a wealth of knowledge and I appreciate the time you take to share it so much. xo

The Venice thing is tricky. DH and I have been there are as much as we would love to go back this time, other new places are taking priority.

Whereas my SIL (who meets up with us when DH leaves) has Venice on her bucket list. (and Rome again, but I am happy to go there twice and DH and I really want to re-do Rome together with the children. But as there is so much there to fill 80 years, I am happy.)

So I figured that going to Venice first from Milan (where DH flies out and she flies into) would be the most logical.
Verona is on DH and my list, but if it's too much of a logistical nightmare we can alway find somewhere else.

Mom83, I have never seen these apartments before, I will check them out. (especially since we will be in Rome twice).

I have read Iris's books and La Foce has been on my bucket list for over a decade, so I am really excited about staying there.

Ian, I am off to google all those places. The Lakes were originally on the list but in May, we read, they would be a little cool and not as beautiful as the Summer months. SIL has been to Como so not keen to go back this trip in June.

Susan, thank you for your thoughts. I am happy to accept all. the. help....LOL. The other option could be to train from Venice to Florence for a few nights and then move on to Lucca (or somewhere else that we base carless in).

Here are some of the Rome apartments I have bookmarked, we will be in Rome twice for 7 nights at a time, so I am happy for all your opinions please, especially location-wise. Our children are happy to walk and explore, but I do want to be fairly central to food options and attractions.

Thank you xo

https://www.airbnb.com.au/rooms/144...-05-06&guests=4&adults=2&children=2&infants=0

https://www.airbnb.com.au/rooms/547...-05-06&guests=4&adults=2&children=2&infants=0

https://www.airbnb.com.au/rooms/182...-05-06&guests=4&adults=2&children=2&infants=0

https://www.airbnb.com.au/rooms/324...-05-06&guests=4&adults=2&children=2&infants=0

https://www.airbnb.com.au/rooms/745...-05-06&guests=4&adults=2&children=2&infants=0

 

[susan]

Susan, thank you for your thoughts. I am happy to accept all. the. help....LOL. The other option could be to train from Venice to Florence for a few nights and then move on to Lucca (or somewhere else that we base carless in).

I almost wrote that as a second suggestion! Lucca would be a good base if you planned to head to Santa Margherita Ligure next. Or, you might want to do the slightly longer train travel from Florence to SML and then travel to Lucca after that as the train travel from Lucca to Rome would be shorter than train travel from SML to Rome. Both are great locations!

 

[jan]

You trip sounds wonderful! I am also planning for spring 2018 and have found it's difficult to get a response on some apartments in Rome. They have either not responded at all or told me it's too early for them to book??? Have you gotten the same reaction? We will fly to Postugal for a week and land in Rome April 6.
For Verona, you might want to post the link. I've spent about 3 weeks there and think that right on Piazza Erbe might be noisy for you--a few blocks away, a different story. I really do love Verona though! Take your kids to the castle, for sure.

I have rented there from Licia at Veronajourneys.com
She has a really nice 2bedroom/2bath apartment you may want to look at.

Lucca is wonderful for kids because you can always go up to the walls for an instant playground!

Happy planning.

 

[misstravelbug]

Thank you Susan, both your itineraries sound excellent. Do you think it will be hot enough to swim in June in SML? Even for the children, as it need to be over 30C for me, coming from a warm weather place. Children will swim at 25C+.

jan, I have had a number of hotels state that it is too early to book the dates as well. Thank you for the Verona recommendation, I have bookmarked two places for Verona (after sifting through 15 million LOL). One is on the piazza and one out of town.

http://www.villasagramososacchetti.it/en/la-villa

will get the other one airbnb is not working atm...

Yes, Lucca looks great and I have not been there. But being able to jump on a train for the day and wander the town soaking up the atmosphere sounds delightful.

I would love any apartment recommendations for Lucca too please, to fit 2A2C.

Happy travels, MTB xo

 

[susan]

Do you think it will be hot enough to swim in June in SML? Even for the children, as it need to be over 30C for me, coming from a warm weather place. Children will swim at 25C+.

When traveling to Italy in the past, I was living in Hawaii, so I probably am not the best person to ask about how warm it would be for swimming since I thought the water was too cold in Hawaii except during August & September. I went back and looked at my photos and found this photo taken on June 23rd. Lots of people in the water that day...

 

[Ian Sutton]

The easy option is to get a place with a pool, which heats up much faster than the sea.

 

[misstravelbug]

Awesome, the children will be happy. I will leave SML as late as possible for the June portion of the trip and we are staying in a hotel for here as well.Double bonus!

Susan, great photo, looks like so much fun! Were most of the people Italian or foreign tourists?

 

[susan]

From what I remember, there were not tons of American tourists in SML when I was there, but I can't say for sure if most of the people were Italian tourists.

 

[joe]

Do you think it will be hot enough to swim in June in SML? Even for the children, as it need to be over 30C for me, coming from a warm weather place. Children will swim at 25C+.

FWIW, the following weather site puts last year's June average temp. (for Sestri Levante, not far from SML) at 21 degrees C., with average maximum temps. at 24 degrees.

https://www.wunderground.com/histor...qdb.zip=00000&reqdb.magic=131&reqdb.wmo=16120

 

[misstravelbug]

Thanks Joe!